Garden Grows With Help From The Elephants

SUNDAY SIDELIGHTS

August 13, 1989

Is elephant dung a manure? That was about the last question Seminole County urban horticulturist Celeste White expected last week during her seminar on fall vegetable gardening for beginners. White, who appeared just as astonished at the notion as the 60 or so people enjoying her advice at the county's agricultural center, didn't have an answer. She hopes to get back with the elderly questioner, who said he has collected elephant feces for the past three years from a circus and spreads it in his yard. First, she needs to find an authority on the subject.

- FREE ELECTIONS?

UNWANTED ADVICE. A threat may have narrowed the field for Longwood's commission races this fall. The would-be candidate doesn't want to be identified, but says a man telephoned several months ago and threatened a family member if the political hopeful sought office. The caller hasn't been heard from since, but the would-be candidate's family remains on edge. And with that tension has gone any interest in running for office. The police were informed, but that hasn't made the family feel safer.

- DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME

FRIENDLY ADVICE. The Seminole-Brevard State Attorney's Office distributes a newsletter to let area law enforcement agencies know the latest on what is legal. In a recent issue, assistant state attorney Tom Hastings wrote about a faux pas by two California officers. ''Not convinced of the suspect's story and perhaps recognizing and taking advantage of their prisoner's pea-brain mentality, the officers were eventually able to get him to confess by hooking him up to a copying machine which they convinced him was a lie-detector test,'' Hastings wrote. ''First, they put a colander over his head and wired it to the duplicating machine. Then, under the Xerox lid, they placed a slip of paper reading, 'He is lying!' Every time the interviewee answered a question denying his culpability, an officer would press the duplicating button and out would pop a Xeroxed 'He is lying!' '' Hastings warned Seminole deputy sheriffs not to do this. Relieved?